Mangy Kitten
by fluffy kitty of darkness
Summary: Daphne Greengrass wanted to go hide under her bed or something. Astoria's smug voice was ringing in her ears. /or, otherwise known as, Daphne gets a kitten.


The Quidditch League Competition/Season 6 -Round 4

Position: Captain

Team: Kenmare Kestrels

Prompt \- Write about someone known to be stoic/cold/aloof using baby-talk with a pet.

I want to thank two wonderful people for this round. My beta, shay - (belle parole) for always being my super fast neighborfriendly grammar fixer and Dessie - (desertredwolf) for always giving me inspiration with prompts, characters, and wonderful music.

* * *

Daphne Greengrass took a deep breath and tried to look anywhere except the mangy ball of fur that her sister kept shoving at her face.

"I will _not."_

 _Astoria_ brought the beast back it her chest and petted it, as if apologizing for her stubborn sister and Daphne rolled her eyes. It was just like her younger sister to find a stray kitten on the streets and think it's perfectly normal to bring into her apartment.

Daphne took a bite of the delicious cake that Astoria had brought over with her. _Note to self, don't open door to family when in the presence of baked goods._ It was most likely a tactic of bribery.

"Here is an idea: you picked up the stray, how about you take the stray back with you and that dark mansion you call a house?" Daphne suggested.

Astoria frowned and shook her head. "I can't. Draco is allergic to cats."

"I don't see how," Daphne replied wryly, "The man's enough of a pu — " She bit back the end of her sentence as Astoria glared at her. She tried a different approach. "Really, Astoria, you don't actually think I can properly take care of a kitten."

To be entirely honest, Daphne had enough trouble remembering to do the dishes before bed. It had been many times she had woken up to head to work and found the kitchen littered with trash. It was time for her sister to accept that Daphne was slob.

"I'm willing to take the risk," Astoria replied solemnly.

Daphne tried to protest again but one pleading look from her sister killed any thoughts of denial. She had never been able to argue against her for any long periods of time when they were children. With a small grunt, she stabbed a piece of cake. "Until you find a permanent owner then. Or whenever your husband kicks the bucket."

Astoria smiled wickedly. "Oh, we both know you like Draco."

 _Can barely tolerate him_ , is what Daphne wanted to say, but Astoria had decided then to steamroller her with kitten instructions and the small pile of supplies she had left at the front door. Daphne had been stunned and slightly overwhelmed that she hardly put up a fuss as Astoria dumped the fuzz in her arms with a cheerful _"good luck!"_ and a promise to come and check on her tomorrow.

...

Daphne was left alone in her apartment, staring dumbly at her arms. She muttered under her breath. "Shouldn't this come with an instruction manual?"

She lifted _it_ in the air with caution. "Do you have a name?"

It really was a mangy thing with rough patches and knotted fur. It blinked owlishly at her and hung limply in her hands.

"Well? Do you?" Daphne scowled. She was talking to a cat for Merlin's sake. This is why people got owls and toads. Less fur and more brains. Even if this furball was pretty cute — to be honest, she didn't dislike kittens. It was one of the better things that Astoria had brought to her house on a whim. Her sister was so kind-hearted that she would bring in a stray yeti from the streets if she found one. Daphne had gotten lucky this time around.

She stared into its dark _eyes._

 _"Fine."_

 _Blink_

 _"_ Furball _."_

 _Blink. Blink._

 _Daphne_ sighed and placed the kitten on the kitchen table. "Just feel lucky I didn't name you _Dinner."_

The kitten was too busy exploring Astoria's leftover water cup with relish to pay attention and proceeded to knock it over with a small crash.

She gritted her teeth and turned away to find a dishtowel. "I'm talking to a damn cat."

* * *

There was something that grew in her over the next two days. Daphne would be doing her Ministry work, focusing on the Accidental Magic lectures that their supervisors had forced the whole department to attend and suddenly, she'd be hit with the awful realization that she had left her clean dishes out.

This was a miracle in itself.

Daphne had never cared about forgetting and leaving things out in the kitchen before, but Furball had proven to be an adventurous spirit and would snoop in places that Daphne never knew existed before. Yesterday, she had found him locked in one of the cupboards and last night, after some strange yowling from the bathroom, she had found him scrambling out of the toilet bowl only to have the lid slam down on the seat, leaving him traumatized and her torn between worry and laughter.

These things had been vaguely amusing at the time.

But she had been there to prevent it each time.

What if he knocked over the dishes? What happens when a kitten falls onto a full pile of glass? Daphne chewed over the end of her pencil in nervous thought. This is why she hated having things to take care of. It ate at her conscience until she was a big pile of worry and nerves.

Blaise Zabini, one of her close friends who had managed to take the same class with her, leaned forward. "Daphne? Are you okay?"

"Furball," she answered shortly, not caring enough to properly answer.

He gave her an odd look, but there was mirth in his eyes. "Do you need to go to bathroom to take care of it?"

Daphne gave him a sharp punch in the ribs.

Merlin, she hated animals.

* * *

Three days later and Daphne had been knocked over the head with a realization that had lurking in the back corners of her mind. She had a useless job — her boss was a bore and the only thing that was even remotely cheerful about the place was Blaise.

Her goal of being a potions master had been severely crippled by her lack of breakthroughs in her studying and almost no social networking in school. To make ends meet, she had to settle for a small job at the Ministry while studying for exams.

This realization that she had been wasting the past years of her life alone in her apartment while her younger sister had gotten married and had a life — this made her slump on her sofa, sipping the strongest cup of tea she had, and ponder over her life choices.

Furball didn't get the memo that this was a depressing time and kept pawing at her sweater. She brushed him away. "Not now."

He leapt lightly on her stomach and tried crawling under her sweater. She rolled her eyes and tugged him out. "We ain't at that stage yet, buddy."

Furball meowed and leapt on her hand, tugging with a soft paws.

Daphne murmured. "Life is so boring, isn't it?"

She poked Furball until he stumbled over on his side, scrambling up to play. "You're a kitten, Furball. You'd know about life."

On a closer look, Daphne found that Furball's eyes were a dark ash grey and not the pitch black that she had always thought they were "I'm staring into the eyes of a cat." Daphne let out a troubled sigh before starting to push Furball off of her gently. "I need a life. Though, I admit, you are an adorable kitten."

Daphne relaxed and smiled faintly. "Sweet little kitty, eh, Furball? Yes, you are. Sweet little furball." With a finger, she tapped his nose.

"Am I interrupting something?"

With a surprised yelp, Daphne knocked Furball right off her stomach and he nipped at her fingers in retaliation. The sight of her sister's amused face in the fireplace was enough of a burn to her pride that she ignored the pain. "No!"

"Huh."

"What are you doing here?"

"What are you talking about, Daphne? I always check on you at night," Astoria said, shaking her head. "You work too much. How is Furball?"

Daphne pressed down on her bitten finger and replied between gritted teeth. "Absolutely _bloody_ splendid."

Speaking of Furball, he was already on route to the fireplace, meowing softly at the sight of Astoria's face in the flames. Despite her annoyance, Daphne momentarily panicked. "No, no, no! You idiot." She grabbed him, lifting him away from the flames. "Fire bad. Bad. Very bad."

She froze.

Did this count as cooing over a pet? In front of her sister? Her face flushed and she added in an extra _idiot_ for good measure.

"Well! I see everything is fine. Very fine, it seems. I'll leave you two alone." Astoria's smug voice grated on her nerves.

"Don't you — " Daphne held her tongue as the fireplace sparked as her sister left. "Ugh!" She shook Furball with a scowl. "You stupid adorkable mass destruction of fluff. I hope you fall in the toilet again!"

Furball smacked her on the nose with his paw for that last comment.


End file.
